310 Black Dyke and British Gamps. By James Tait. 



was the reputed birth-place of St, Cuthbert, the famous Anglo- 

 Saxon saint, and Bishop of Lindisfarne, and here he is said to 

 have spent his early years under the care of a devoted nurse 

 named Kenspid. When he grew older, he is said to have served 

 as a herd boy on the banks of the Leader, and the place of his 

 service has been said to be Cuddyhall, midway between Earls- 

 toun and Lauder. Old Melrose, where St. Cuthbert spent the 

 middle stage of his life, is at a short distance from "Wrangham. 

 Throughout the whole distance of about ten miles, along 

 which we have already traced the Black Dyke, its course has 

 run through fields and across country. It is quite otherwise 

 with the remainder of it. After leaving the farm of Brother- 

 stone, and cutting off a small portion of the farm of Craighouse, 

 it crosses the highway leading from Melrose to Smailholm, and 

 thereafter maintains its existence as a lawful way, fenced by 

 hedges and dykes, and having the traditional reputation of being 

 an old Eoman Eoad. It next proceeds by the east end of 

 Bemersyde Hill in a southern direction, till it reaches the road 

 from Mertoun to St Boswells, and either becomes one with this 

 road, or is not farther traceable. If continued by the Mertoun 

 road to St Boswells, it may have joined the Watling Street, a 

 local name for which is the Weirgate. 



II. BRITISH CAMPS. 



Returning to our starting point, the northern extremity of 

 Boon Moor, we are there about two miles distant from the Hare- 

 faulds, an Ancient British walled encampment, situated on the 

 farm of Blythe, and at no great distance from the farm steading. 

 Though the camp is now in utter ruin, twenty years ago great 

 part of it was in a state of perfect preservation, and a short 

 account of its former state may not be uninteresting. The camp 

 was of an oval shape, and had been defended by a great stone 

 wall about six feet in thickness on the northern side where it 

 was assailable ; on the other sides the wall did not exceed three 

 feet in thickness. The "faulds" rested on the strong exterior 

 outer wall and had their entrances toward the centre of the camp. 

 The measurements of five of these, all on the north side of the 

 camp, were 39^, 57, 30, 60, and 78 feet in circumference. Each 

 of them had behind it in the exterior wall a cell of the exact 

 shape of a draw well. These cells may have been store-rooms 

 for the dwellers in the folds, An old broken down dry-stone 



